From NYU SPS, Be Joe’s Guest

When Joe interned at a Hyatt resort in Florida last summer, a family approached the front desk to inquire about tickets to a nearby water park they wanted to visit. They were understandably disappointed when Joe informed them there was a waitlist. However, when Joe arrived at work the next day, he learned there were several unused park tickets. And he was able to call the family with the good news.

“The mother was so grateful,” Joe recalls. “She came back at the end of the day to say that they’d had so much fun. Being able to go above and beyond to make their experience more special made me feel like I knew what I was doing. It was an experience that confirmed for me that this is the direction I want to go in.”

Joe has long been drawn to the hospitality industry. Even before coming to NYU SPS, he worked as a busser, server, and host at a restaurant in his Massachusetts hometown. There, he knew his regular customers’ names, favorite tables, and preferred wines. “I really like to make personal connections,” he shares. According to Joe, it’s these relationships that drew him to hospitality in the first place. What better way to connect with others than through direct, real-life experiences? And what better place to do it than at NYU SPS?

“The Hotel and Tourism Management major is ideal if you know you want to apply what you learn in the classroom to the world around you,” says Joe. He is concentrating in organizations and operations to pursue his passion for hotel operations.

Joe had the chance to explore this passion up close when he participated in a site visit to the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square as part of his Lodging Industry Structures and Strategies class. “Seeing how that hotel operates was a huge factor in giving me confidence in my decision to pursue this concentration,” he says. “A team worked together within their individual roles to make sure people’s experiences at the property were unforgettable.”

Joe experienced the hotel in action a few months before COVID-19 brought the hospitality and travel industries to a screeching halt. The pandemic also impacted his first internship experience, which ended up being remote, with event production company Cannonball Productions. But he says he still learned a lot, especially through one of his major projects: recruiting Black-owned businesses and other businesses owned by members of historically marginalized communities for the Bacon and Beer Classic festival in Denver.